Joshua Jackson is currently promoting the Fatal Attraction limited series, where he plays Dan, the character originally played by Michael Douglas, and Lizzy Caplan plays Alex (originally played by Glenn Close). The series is on Paramount+, which basically means that they can do an explicit, R-rated show with graphic sex scenes. Don’t tell the Puriteens, who cry on Beyonce’s internet every day that sex, nudity and intimacy should not be shown in films or television shows. This is not Joshua’s first “sexy” show, and he seems to be fine with showing his body and working out the mechanics of sex scenes with a partner. Variety also spoke to Lizzy Caplan, who sings Jackson’s praises and you can tell they had a good rapport and they worked well together and with the intimacy coordinator. From this Variety interview with Jackson:

The importance of sex scenes: “The sex scenes are of great importance because they’re furthering the narrative. You have to believe that these people want to f–k each other.” He adds that the show works hard to create “something in the beginning that’s transgressive and animalistic, then moving into something sweeter as the sex scenes progress — which is in its way more transgressive, because he’s married.”

The series shows Alex’s point of view as well: “I went back and watched the original and was like, ‘Holy sh-t, we’ve come a long way.’ The movie is incredible, but the gender dynamics are impossible to wrap your head around.”

Jackson thinks Dan is a sh-thead: “The second his principles bump up against his convenience, he chooses his convenience.”

His pet peeves: “One of my pet peeves is two characters have sex, and it’s the most amazing sex she’s ever had. She wakes up in the morning, and she pulls the sheet up over her breasts. I’ve never in my life had great sex with somebody and then have them be like, ‘But I don’t want you to see my nipples in the morning.’”

He feels like the show is about the female gaze: “God bless Silver for being amazing and coming at this from the female gaze. There are so many ways to tell the story of a sex scene that don’t need to be about certain pieces of a woman’s body. There are so many different ways that this can give you all of that stuff without it having to be exploitive of the women’s body.”

Lizzy Caplan couldn’t have been more comfortable with Jackson: She’d just welcomed her first child as filming began, so wasn’t feeling so secure shooting close-ups. “As I’m trying to figure out how this new postpartum body works, Joshua was right there to help me out. Want to know what true feminism is? That, in a man.”

Having a daughter with Jodie Turner Smith: “There are things I would have been interested in doing before having the baby, like playing a real racist motherf–ker. Now, it’s just not something that I want to put on camera and have my daughter see.”

Jodie isn’t bothered by his sex scenes: “Jodie is not fussed about my sex scenes,” Jackson says. And, anyway, he finds more intimacy in scenes between characters falling in love, since sex scenes are more technical. After a pause, he laughs and adds, “The sex scenes themselves, Jodie kind of enjoys them, actually. It’s a weird thing where she’s like a voyeur. So that works! If that’s your thing — excellent.”

How he views Dawson’s Creek: “‘Dawson’s Creek’ never ever thought that young people are stupid. It never spoke down to anyone. We weren’t trying to be too cool. ‘Gossip Girl’ was trying to be in the zeitgeist and be cool to kids. We were all nerdy kids. It doesn’t have to be ‘Euphoria’ to have an impact.”

[From Variety]

I would actually find it icky if Joshua was the only one from the show talking about how great it is to shoot sex scenes, but it’s clear that Lizzy Caplan felt respected and protected by Joshua, the director and the crew. Plus, this is Fatal Attraction – of course there are going to be sex scenes, that’s the whole point, a married man has a torrid affair and everything goes sideways. It would be a total bait-and-switch if they didn’t have tons of sex scenes. As for Joshua calling Jodie a voyeur… well, okay then! No comment, I guess.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.